I have long been a fan of first The Living Bible and then the New Living Translation (NLT). The Living Bible (LB) was a paraphrase of Scripture, the NLT was a new translation from the original languages that attempted to provide the readability of the LB while not sacrificing the accuracy of more word-for-word literal translations like the NASB or NIV. While I loved the LB – the NLT was a huge step upwards.

More recently I discovered a series of commentaries that used the NLT as their underlying text. I was confused by this. While I love the NLT – I don’t study off of it. This is because the NLT focuses on a more thought-for-thought approach than word-for-word – which is great for readability but not so great for word studies and so on. Further research led me to the discovery that the NLT had undergone a second and major revision – which unfortunately is not highly publicized. I flipped to the front of my NLT and saw instantly it was copyright in 1996 – thus being a first edition. The second edition came out in 2004. The NLTse offered significant improvements over the NLTfe – particularly in its attempts to reduce thought-for-thought while maintaining clarity and accuracy – increasing the ability for one to perform word studies, etc. off the NLT text.

So tonight I ordered a NLT Study Bible. Traditionally, I’ve used the LB and NLT Life Application Bibles (LAB)…but I wanted something more concerned with historical, literary, cultural, geographical, theological, etc. info. rather than application. In general, if one understands the meaning of the passage I find it fairly simple (usually) to apply it to my life. The LAB didn’t always provide this background information but did provide applications. The NLT Study Bible I ordered uses the Second Edition text – though this might more properly be called 2.1 – since there was another small revision implemented in more recent years that continues to refine the NLT in a few areas.

All this to say – I’d highly recommend getting your hands on a New Living Translation (NLT) bible. I am a big fan of the dynamic equivalence method utilized and the translators who worked on this text are top notch. The continued revisions are quite impressive. Kudos to Tyndale for continued excellent work in making Scripture understandable in our present context. I’ll provide more details once I receive the new book and have an opportunity to work with it a little more…

Related posts:

1. Studying Through the Bible for a Church. Introduction: There is a lack of biblical literacy in many,...
2. A Christian Library. [This is a work in progress...Revision history now added at...
3. Major Biblical Studies Publishers. Hendrickson Publishers New International Biblical Commentary, Daily Bible Commentary, The...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Related posts:

1. Studying Through the Bible for a Church. Introduction: There is a lack of biblical literacy in many,...
2. A Christian Library. [This is a work in progress...Revision history now added at...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Still, there are a large number of files that come in compressed formats. It is still a convenient way to send a whole bunch of files at once or to protect files with an encryption key. There are several commercial products available for this purpose including the venerable WinZip. That said, when possible I seek to find freeware or open source alternatives to commercial software packages – a habit that comes from growing up without (much) cash.

My personal favorite is 7-Zip. Its free and open source. My only complaint is that the user interface is not nearly intuitive or friendly enough. Still, if you are willing to take the time to learn the application – it is extremely powerful and can handle a wide variety of compression formats – way beyond just your normal zip/unzip.

Related posts:

1. My Platform as a Service (PaaS) List. Some people are going to be up in arms over...
2. SugarSync – For Backups, Archiving and Sharing. Image via CrunchBase I am continuously encouraging individuals and businesses...
3. open source Open Source and Free Software is one of the most...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Healthcare has been gathering interest in the public eye, especially with the push through Congress of new healthcare legislation. It has also been gathering increasing interest from the IT sector – and articles such as this one are a reflection of that increasing interest. I’d encourage you to take a few minutes to read through Oram’s entire article if you are a techie, and if not to read through the first half in which he covers some of the less technical features of VistA that are revolutionizing healthcare.

You can also visit the official open source page for VistA here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Author Phillip Longman Takes ‘Best Care Anywhere’ Message on the Road in June, Champions VistA/OpenVista as Nation’s Best Hope for Improving Healthcare While Controlling Costs (eon.businesswire.com)
• VA approaches open source day of reckoning (zdnet.com)

Related posts:

1. Zeo – I Want It! Image via Wikipedia Okay folks, I haven’t gotten my hands...
2. Community Health Data Initiative. I’m a big fan of open source and am excited...
3. Healthcare Reform and Technology. Image via Wikipedia Disclaimer: When it comes to discussions about...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What is DNS?

To understand DNS you have to understand a little bit about the architecture of the internet. Namely, we have clients, hosts, and dns servers (this is a vast oversimplification). The clients are workstations (e.g. the computer you are reading this blog post on), the hosts are servers that hold a specific website(s) (e.g. the server this blog post is hosted on), and a dns server is the white pages that allows a client to find a host.

See, computers operate off IP addresses like this: 70.40.206.244 But we type in URLs like this: www.daveenjoys.com. The client transparently sends a request out to a DNS server saying, “Hey, what is the IP address of www.daveenjoys.com” to which the DNS server should reply “70.40.206.244″. You can think of the IP address as a “phone number” and the “url” as a name (e.g. Mackey, Dave).

Do I Need a DNS Service?

The quick answer is – yes – but not necessarily an enterprise dns service. See you need a DNS service that allows you to lookup IP addresses, but you don’t necessarily need one to keep IP address / URL translation information about your domains – unless you own some domains. For most people, the DNS servers that are automatically and transparently configured by their ISP (Internet Service Provider – e.g. Comcast, Verizon, AOL). But if you host a website (say www.daveenjoys.com or www.yahoo.com) you need DNS servers.

Do I Need an Enterpise DNS Service?

The quick answer is no. Most hosts provide DNS services with their hosting packages. You go to a site like Bluehost or WebWizGuide and they bundle the DNS services right in. If not, usually your domain registrar will bundle in dns services. So why use enterprise dns services? Its all about quality…

Services like DNSMadeEasy offer features such as:

• Faster propagation of updates^[1]
• Failover between IPs^[2]
• 24/7 Support.
• Better Security / Defense Systems against hacker attacks.

Honestly, I don’t really need an enterprise DNS service myself. Most of my websites are pretty low scale. I purchased a plan with DNSMadeEasy when I attempted to launch Informed Network – a social news website for IT professionals. I keep DNSMadeEasy services b/c its a ridiculously low $60/year, the service is excellent, and I want to be ready for when I do ramp up for my next big project.

Conclusion

DNSMadeEasy may have lost their never-been-down crown (over eight years!), but I’m sticking with them. I’ve been happy with their service, their prices beat out the competition by orders of magnitude, and hey – look – they put up a new and slicker website!

Related articles by Zemanta

• DNS Made Easy rallies after punishing DDoS attack (go.theregister.com)

1. ^[1] Think back to our analogy of a phone book. These books quickly become outdated. If you change phone numbers as a business – how long do you have to wait for your customers to get an updated phone book with your new number? Could be a while. In a similar way, when an update is made to one’s DNS records this can take a while (these days, usually 24 hrs.) to propagate – in which time your customers are hitting the wrong number. DNSMadeEasy and company make this into a seconds/minutes update process. ↩
2. ^[2] What if one of your servers goes down? DNSMadeEasy makes it easy to rotate visitors over to another server. This can also be accomplished by a load balancer – and in many cases should be – but DNSMadeEasy provides a simple and quick solution to a sometimes complicated problem. ↩

Related posts:

1. Redgate SQL Backup – Protecting Critical Information. Redgate SQL Backup is an amazing product I’ve been using...
2. Pondering the Future of Higher Education. Image via Wikipedia Bill Gates at the Techonomy conference discussed...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Bill Gates at the Techonomy conference discussed the future of education based on technological innovation and suggested that the prevalence of place-based education will significantly decrease within the next five years, with a shift towards online / distance learning. You can read MG Siegler’s TechCrunch post here or jump to Techonomy’s blog post for a YouTube video of Gates speaking.

Overall, I agree with Gates’ hypothesis and wanted to spend just a few minutes fleshing out some thoughts on how this will effect higher education institutions and how higher education institutions can and should take advantage of this trend. I have a vested interest in this arena as a low-level peon at Philadelphia Biblical University where I work as a Systems Administrator / Senior Systems Support Specialist. That said, my opinions expressed herein are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Effects of Online Learning Transition:

• Refocusing of Faculty – I don’t see an entire transition to online education overwhelming us in the next several years, but the use of online education to acquire inexpensively general education credits is likely to increase. Whereas, previously, one oftentimes had to compromise quality in gen. ed. courses, now one will be able to ensure the highest quality at a lower price. This will result in shrinking classroom sizes for gen. ed. courses and the eventual untenability of maintaining some, if not many, general education courses / departments.
• Lower Costs – For both the student and the institution costs will decrease. Institutions will experience reduced costs due to reductions in personnel (custodial, maintenance, security, administrative) and facilities (classrooms, libraries, gyms, cafeterias).
• Increased Competition – In the past institutions could rely to some extent on their geographical location to provide students, this ability will decrease with time as students have the option to remain geographically local while educationally global.
• Consolidation – This is not a necessary corollary, but I expect a significant number of institutions will fail to make the necessary changes to remain relevant in the future educational landscape as such such will close or consolidate with other schools due to lack of finances, students, etc.

Recommendations for the Transition:

• Refocus on Core Areas – Institutions need to begin considering what areas of the educational curriculum to continue to expand in-house and which portions to “out-source” – the distinctive aspects of an institution will become key as time progresses. An institution focused on medicine, electronics, or biblical studies will need to seriously consider whether it can offer a similar quality of education through out-sourced courses.I do not mean to discount the importance of the liberal arts. I love the liberal arts, but I am attempting to reflect an economic reality. Furthermore, institutions will need to invest additional resources into those core emphases. Finances regained by not expanding one department must be reinvested in expanding those departments which will serve as the heart of the future institution.
• Refocus Holistically – Academic institutions have been good at educating but not always at growing students. Knowledge about a specialty, even including liberal arts, does not result in a well-balanced individual. Especially for religious institutions, a focus on the holistic health of the individual student should be an increased emphasis. In our post-modern society the importance of furthering one’s career has taken a backseat and we are more concerned about living a holistic life (of being happy). This might occur in an institution by more closely pairing students with faculty mentors, by increasing holistic emphases within the institution (e.g. how do we eat?, how do we communicate?, how do we exercise?, how do we worship?) – not primarily through courses either – but through less formal/rigorous methods.
• Focus on Community – As Gates’ humorously points out, one aspect of higher education that online education will not be able to replicate (at least in the near future) are the parties. I would go a step beyond this and suggest that it is not simply the parties but the community that online education cannot replicate. Thus, the importance of providing a stable and welcoming community will increase. This will include the necessity of intentionally fostering relationships between students, providing ample opportunities and outlets for student energies, and increasing connections between faculty/staff and students.
• Focus on Service – Institutions must consider the peripheral services they offer to students and seek ways to simplify their lives while also keeping costs low. Institutions will need to pay more attention to providing quality service to students. Student / Institution relationships are symbiotic in nature. An institution must always remember that the institution wields power only as long as the students allow it do so. Peripheral services might include aggressive intern / post-graduation placement, deeper relationships with faculty/staff, on-site medical (physical / psychological) health facilities, and unique opportunities<ref>I can’t remember the institution, but I nearly went somewhere else instead of PBU. I received attractive financial support from a secular institution. I knew I wanted to be in ministry – but this institution offered a year of educational credit by backpacking throughout Europe with your classmates and professors. Wow. Having read Louis L’Amour’s Education of a Wandering Man this was almost too much to resist…but I did. =)</ref>.
• Focus on Technology – You probably saw this one coming, right? Being an Information Technologies worker, I have to say this, right? However true that may be – it doesn’t belie the underlying truth – technology is integrally connected to the future of higher education. Since this is my area of expertise I’m going to take a little extra time to discuss this arena and break it out into its own discussion, so see below.

Focus on Technology (Expanded):

Any institution which hopes to survive in our technological future must understand and embrace technology. Let me explain a few practical ways in which this must occur:

• Listening – Administrators and Faculty need to listen to their IT workers. I don’t meant take every suggestion they make as gospel – I mean take the time to understand what they are saying. Doesn’t matter who I’m talking to, when I start to talk technology (unless it is another geek) their eyes almost immediately glaze over. This leaves IT folks in a bind. When someone asks us, “How does this work?” or “Why didn’t this work?” We can reply with a technical explanation which results in glossy eyes and the waste of both of our time or we can reply with a unsatisfactory summary answer which saves us both time but which leaves those we spoke with no better equipped to interact with the technology or us in the future.<ref>I understand that IT workers are not known as the most socially adept. We hang out with computers all day for a reason – many of us have problems relating to you scary humanoids. I also understand that we aren’t the best at speaking in plain English – but part of this is a trained response. We’ve become so used to people glazing over we don’t even try…</ref>
• Learning – There is a reasonable fear of listening to IT folks too heavily. We quasi-believe we can fix everything with the right line of code or technological solution. We see things through a certain filter – and this isn’t always the filter that is needed in a situation. That said, a lack of understanding by faculty / administrators of technological concepts / processes is a sure way to sink an institution. Thus, I suggest that faculty / administrators make a significant and ongoing commitment to familiarizing / learning technology.<ref>On the opposite side of the spectrum, it might be worthwhile to push IT individuals to better understand certain aspects of faculty / administrator jobs. We do our best work when we fully understand what you are trying to accomplish and then match technological solutions to optimize that purpose.</ref> What is a competent level to expect of administrators / faculty? Try this little quiz on for size. If you can’t say, “hey, I can do this really well” – you need to put on your learning cap:
  • Search the web using a search engine for information – and not just simple queries like, “honda accord” or “john wayne”.
  • Write a document, format it, print it, email it, save it, convert it (to another file format) without contacting an IT person.
  • Import pictures from your digital camera, a scanner, or a cell phone to your computer and upload them to web via services such as Facebook, Flickr, or PicasaWeb.
  • Install / remove applications without the necessity of IT assistance<ref>Though we may require you to speak to us.</ref>
  • Avoid getting a virus or being phished in any given year.
  • Understand the basics of antivirus / malware / spyware spotting and removal.
  • Understand how to utilize and perform basic troubleshooting in a smart classroom (equipped with a laptop, projector, etc.).
  • Understand open source / free software philosophy (the difference between the two, and why these matter).
  • Have and understand how to utilize social media accounts such as Facebook and MySpace.
  • Have and understand how to utilize a non-school email address – such as Gmail or Hotmail.
  • Familiar with the touchstone applications and websites that are availability within your educational / administrative arena.
• Discussing – Looking for individuals in the IT sector who are willing to discuss topics with you.<ref>I would suggest this is applicable across sectors and is simply good business practice. Take time to understand why its taking so long for custodial to accomplish x…or why financial aid always seems to run out of money at x…, etc.</ref> Spend time helping them understand what you do, what you care about, what worldview and philosophy drives you, and spend time listening to them discuss the same. For example, if you are reading Neil Postman and worshiping at his feet, you better be spending some serious time discussing Postman’s observations and philosophies with a techie.
  

Pahh. That took a lot longer to write than I would have liked – and is still only first draft quality, but take a look. I’ll respond to any questions / comments / criticisms as I can. Take care!

Related posts:

1. Longer School Days? No Way. Besides my beloved Newsweek for keeping up on the latest...
2. Ramblings on Search. A Better Search Engine. X= (C*15) + (E*40) + ((A1*40)...
3. My Platform as a Service (PaaS) List. Some people are going to be up in arms over...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

While their website needs a refresh, the actual resort is quite nice. Upon entering you immediately arrive at the office/store which is well-stocked with supplies and reasonably priced – a pleasant surprise. Just a little beyond is a nice playground. Continue up the main shoot and you see a small lake on the right side with a beach front, areas for fishing, and rental boats (e.g. paddle boats) available. The area is generally wooded and there are places apportioned for both RV and tenting – and a number of small one and two-bedroom cabins.

We stayed in a cabin – so I will focus in on these. Our cabin was two bedrooms. The master bedroom was larger with a large bed, the smaller bedroom was quite small with bunk beds – obviously targeted towards children. The couch in the kitchen/living room area pulled out into another full size bed. There was a stove, refrigerator/freezer, air conditioner (window unit), and kitchen table/chairs. The bathroom included an RV style toilet which worked just fine – running hot/cold water in both the sink and in the full-size bath tub.

Outside we had a picnic table and a fire pit. There were plenty of space for walking on the roads that lead around the campground, pavilions to eat at, and public restrooms/showers if needed (we didn’t utilize them, since we had ones in the rooms.

For an extra fee you can enjoy the petting zoo or mini-golf – neither of which we had the occasion to try. There is also another playground, a basketball court, and baseball diamond – none of which we had occasion to see / utilize.

The pricing was reasonable – on weeknights $75/night for two bedrooms or $65/night for one bedrooms.

I hope to return to them if occasion leads me back in the area in the future. A+.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I still don’t have personal hands-on experience with an Amazon Kindle, but I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one (someday). These are luxury devices for me – and while I want one – I haven’t been able to justify the cost. With the Kindle now at $139 its come a long way down and is now within my “consideration” zone. Larry Dignan has written a great in-depth post on what the latest Kindle offers and what is still missing.

Related posts:

1. Zeo – I Want It! Image via Wikipedia Okay folks, I haven’t gotten my hands...
2. My Platform as a Service (PaaS) List. Some people are going to be up in arms over...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

It used to be you had to pay to get your credit report, then federal law required the credit agencies to provide us with one free credit report each year. This was a huge step forwards but the interface was and still is tremendously clunky and once you’ve viewed it once – not the easiest to get back to. You can still get those official free credit reports from each of the three credit reporting agencies here.

Thankfully, newer and easier ways to gather your credit reports are now becoming available. I want to talk about two of these – Credit Karma and Quizzle.

Credit Karma offers you a free credit score pulled from TransUnion. It appears you can re-pull your score as often as you like. In addition to giving you visibility into your score and report, Credit Karma compares your score against other Credit Karma users, provides you with a Credit Simulator to see how various actions would positively or negatively affect your score, and provides customized offers for credit cards, auto insurance, home mortgages, etc. that could potentially lower your expenses. Credit Karma is able to provide the service for free by offering these sorts of targeted sponsor offers.

Quizzle is part of the larger conglomerate, Quicken Loans. Quizzle pulls your credit score/report from Experian. Unlike Credit Karma, you can’t repull your report any time you like for free – only once every six months – but hey, that’s still pretty good, right? Quizzle also offers a number of free features similar to those found in Credit Karma. Credit Karma also has some premium features you can purchase – but aren’t obliged to – such as basic and advanced credit monitoring on a more frequent basis. The prices aren’t bad – working up to around $8/mo.

Between these two services you can get two out of three credit reports for free. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of a similar service that offers credit pulls from Equifax. If anyone is aware of such a service – I’d love to hear about it.

Related posts:

1. iChange – Real Hope for Weight, Lifestyle, and Nutritional Change? I’m not a health nut. My mom and one of...
2. Microsoft’s Free Development Tools. I remember as a teenager programming for years in QBASIC...
3. Free Publicity? Hey Folks, Have something you really, really love? Think your...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

There is a lack of biblical literacy in many, young and old, who attend Christian churches. This, sadly, occurs even amongst those in leadership positions. How is this to be remedied?

The issue is time for some – they simply lack the time or do not prioritize the time to spend in Scripture. The problem for others though is more complex – and more easily resolved – they lack the means. Jumping into Scripture can be a bit like jumping into the deep end of the pool. Some will scorn me for saying this – but there are many passages in the bible I find difficult to understand and some that throw me into a complete and depressive tizzy.

As a youth I discovered William Barclay‘s Daily Study Bible. Barclay had written commentaries on each book of the New Testament over a period of years for the Anglican church. They were divided into small daily segments for devotional reading and while fairly concise managed to hit deeply upon a wide variety of topics and to faithfully handle the Scriptures in many aspects. They were reasonable to read alongside of one’s devotional reading – unlike so many of today’s commentaries which are so voluminous that one could never make progress in reading through the entireties of the Scriptures – mired always in the details.

I think there is a need for such a series today and for such a series to be promoted through the church and for weekly meetings to occur in which discussion of the past week’s readings can be discussed and pondered. I have hesitated thus far in recommending the DSB as such an option for several reasons:

1. William Barclay while generally maintaining to Christian orthodoxy occasionally shows his underlying modernism – and this could be a significant concern for the new or young believer.
2. The books are becoming somewhat dated, the quotations and illustrations not always relevant (I have not had a chance to read the revised editions, but these I understand to have dropped his own translation – which was a highlight to me of the originals).
3. There is no citations and no bibliographic data providing a way for those who find a particular passage interesting or confusing to find further resources.

I have been and continue to look for such a resource to recommend to the church. Someday, I hope to write such a reference (I already have registered the domain for this purpose at layeredbible.com) but I do not have the time available to me at this juncture for such an endeavor – someday if the Lord wills, He will provide the time (I do not think I have unique insight into the Scriptures, rather I find myself more a compiler, cataloger, and synthesizer of those who have gone in the past or are now).

For the time being…I have continued my research and decided to share this research here in this post.

Options:

• Lucado, Max. Life Lessons Series. Nelson Impact.
  • Covers the New Testament only.
  • Price is extremely reasonable at $6.99/volume.
  • Not what I’m looking for. While offering some good questions, etc. it doesn’t appear to provide much literary, historical, grammatical, theological, etc. info. You can see a sample chapter here.
• The Navigators. LifeChange Series. NavPress.
  • Covers O.T. and N.T.
  • Price is extremely reasonable at $6/volume.
  • A sample is available here, unfortunately it is an introductory chapter – not an actual chapter on the text.
• Willow Creek Association. New Community Series.
  • Covers some books of both the O.T. and N.T.
  • Priced at $6/volume.
• Deepening Life Together Series. Baker Books.
  • Covers some NT books.
• MacArthur, John. John MacArthur Study Guides. Nelson Impact.
• LifeGuide Bible Studies. Inter-Varsity Press.
  • Priced at $6/volume.
• NLT Life Application Bible Studies. Tyndale House.
  • Priced at $6/volume.
• Wiersbe, Warren. Wiersbe Bible Study Series. David C. Cook.
  • Covers OT and NT.
  • Priced at $7/volume.
• Stott, John. John Stott Bible Study Series. IVP Connect.
  • Price at $6/volume.
• Wiersbe, Warren. Be Series. David C. Cook.
  • $10/volume.
• Arthur, Kay. New Inductive Series. Harvest House Publishers.
  • O.T. and N.T.
  • $7/volume.
• Blackaby, Henry, Melvin Blackaby, Thomas Blackaby. Blackaby Bible Study Series. Thomas Nelson.
  • N.T.
  • $8/volume.
• Walk Through the Bible Series. Baker Books.
  • N.T.
  • $6/volume.
• Wright, N.T. For Everyone Series. IVP Connect.
  • My Comment: I’m not a huge fan of Wright’s writing style in these commentaries. While Wright series is intended as a successor to Barclay’s volumes, thus far I’ve found them too sermonic in nature – too many stories that don’t relate directly to the text.
  • N.T.
  • $6.50/volume.

Bibliographic:

1. I reviewed somewhere around 1100 items from Christian Book Distributor’s Bible Study and Curriculums section.

Related posts:

1. A Christian Library. [This is a work in progress...Revision history now added at...
2. Fearless (Max Lucado). Max Lucado is one of my favorite authors. Thankfully, there...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.